2SER is a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, broadcasting on the frequency 107.3 FM. It is operated by Sydney Educational Broadcasting Ltd, and co-funded by two Universities,

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...

and

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

. It is a member of the

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) is the peak body and the national representative organisation for community radio and television stations in Australia. The CBAA provide leadership, advocacy and support for members to ac ...

. The station has a metro-wide license and broadcasts a mix of programming styles - specialist music, general magazines, specialist talks and podcasts.

Programming

2SER broadcasts a wide range of music and talk shows. Talk show topics include science, current affairs, health, conservation, publishing, gender and queer culture, music, arts and theatre. Music genres include experimental, country, metal, pop and spatial audio. In 2024 station won a Community Broadcasting Association Australia Award for Excellents in Australian Music, sponsored by APRA AMCOS. Some programs have been on air for more than 40 years, including ''Back To Funk'', ''Static'' and ''The Phantom Dancer''. ''Gaywaves'', Sydney's first an LGBTQIA+ program, aired from November 1979 to 2005. Gaywaves returned to air in 2022 after 17 years. The station is also one of few media outlets that has a special program for prisoners, ''Jailbreak''.

History

On 1 October 1979 2SER was opened by the Federal Minister for Education, Senator John Carrick. In the mid-1990s the station expanded its programming to emphasise underground dance music. This caused friction within the station but 2SER organised a series of highly lucrative fund raising events called Freaky Loops in association with Sydney promoters such as Cryogenesis, Clan Analogue, Club Kooky and

Elefant Traks Elefant Traks was a record label based in Sydney, Australia, founded by Kenny Sabir (p.k.a.Traksewt) in 1998. The label predominantly released Australian hip hop music, and founded its own hip-hop collective, The Herd, as well as managing acts ...

which sustained the move to a new musical format for several years until 2001. The station worked on improving its brand across the 2003-2005 period, incorporating a new logo, while the station's online presence and content experience was also redesigned. In late 2004, the station was faced with a projected budget shortfall of up to $100,000 that financial year. Management addressed the situation by reducing the number of paid staff, putting forward proposals to scale down the use of its studio at Macquarie University and attempting to cater for a slightly older audience. These ideas were met with frustration from some volunteers. Internal activism resulted in a softening of policy and in early 2005, the new program grid was launched. Despite the controversy in its lead-up, it proved to be a simple reshuffle of the existing grid rather than a dramatic overhaul. From the late 2000s and into the 2010s, 2SER has continued to expand its offerings across broadcast and digital, as well as with podcasting. It has won international awards for its collaborations, including a Silver Radio Prize at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for History Lab (with Impact Studios). The station celebrated its 40th anniversary in October 2019 with a podcast series, exhibition and book, ''An Incomplete History of Community Radio: 2SER's 46 Boxes of Stuff.'' The station's long-term publication, Listening Post, was also digitised in full and placed in the Australian open access archive

Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

. The station also regularly runs live events like the acclaimed. In Your Hood series supported by the Inner West Council and Live@2SER performance series based on NPR's Tiny Desk. Kobi Shetty mentioned the February 2025 event in her address to NSW Parliament as an example of "vital community work" performed by the station. Today it runs out of

and

People

The station helped launch the broadcasting careers of Julie McCrossin, Robbie Buck, Richard Kingsmill, Helen Razer, Eleanor Hall, Fenella Kernebone,

Steve Ahern Stephen Roderick Ahern ( OAM) (born 1959) is an Australian media executive, strategist, trainer and international consultant in modern broadcast media. He was the station manager at three Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio statio ...

, Jess Scully, Barbara Morison,

Tanya Plibersek Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Social Services in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously the Minister for the Environment and Water from 2022 to 2025. She was ...

, Tracee Hutchison, Tiga Bayles, Stuart Coupe, Lorna Clarkson and Jonathan Harley - all of whom started out on the station as volunteers. The founding station manager was

Keith Jackson Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his caree ...

. Former station managers include Philip Shine, Kaye Blackman, Melanie Withnall, and Paula Kruger. The current station manager is Cheryl Northey supported by Michael Jones as operations coordinator, Lachlan Holland as music director and Chris Yates as communications and sponsorship.

Programming

History

People

See also

References

External links